If I follow the thread and reviews... M8 has some hiss on IEMs even on low gain, 720 has a lot, AK120/HM-901 has none... that about right?

Also how does the Classic/M8 compare to the AK120 and 901/IEM for use with iems exclusively? Other options I should consider? Likely JH13fp or Siren equivalent or possibly at ER-4PT with some form of bass boost in my future.

Yes, the M8 has (to me) some barely audible hiss with some multi driver IEMs as it is perhaps too powerful for them even on the lowest gain.

This only occurs when music is not playing, when music is playing there is no hiss (I tried with Shure 535, JH13 and JH16).

Centrance will also reduce the gain of the Hifi-M8 unit on request so there is No hiss, but slightly less power as I understand it overall.

The Hifi-M8, Hifiman 901 and AK120 are fairly close overall, but with High end IEMs (I tried various Fitears and Translucent at the time) The 901 and AK120 were ever so slightly ahead. But do note at that time I was using a beta build and had not received my final version Hifi-M8.

I use my Hifi-M8 with the Touch5G and cant comment on its use with a classic.

I truly enjoy the airy, weighty yet fast sound I get from the DACPort. Still I hate it because of its absolutely crappy pot. It was scratchy when I first got it, and it was scratchy when I got it back from a CEntrance RMA. Plus, I was invoiced all transportation costs (Europe <=> USA), YIKES!

Anyway (and unfortunately) the DACPort sound is addictive so I wonder how the HiFi-M8 compares to the DACPort sound wise, and if anyone has had any problems with the HiFi-M8’s pot? Portable DACPort sound in the form of the HiFi-M8 sounds almost too good to be true, and from bitter experience I’ve learnt that anything that sounds too good to be true just isn’t. Also, I mostly use my AKG K3003, and FitEar ToGo 334 and really don’t want to burst my eardrums to get rid of channel imbalance and hiss. That is, is it black enough and are the channels balanced at low (and I mean low) volumes? Thanks!

I truly enjoy the airy, weighty yet fast sound I get from the DACPort. Still I hate it because of its absolutely crappy pot. It was scratchy when I first got it, and it was scratchy when I got it back from a CEntrance RMA. Plus, I was invoiced all transportation costs (Europe <=> USA), YIKES!

Anyway (and unfortunately) the DACPort sound is addictive so I wonder how the HiFi-M8 compares to the DACPort sound wise, and if anyone has had any problems with the HiFi-M8’s pot? Portable DACPort sound in the form of the HiFi-M8 sounds almost too good to be true, and from bitter experience I’ve learnt that anything that sounds too good to be true just isn’t. Also, I mostly use my AKG K3003, and FitEar ToGo 334 and really don’t want to burst my eardrums to get rid of channel imbalance and hiss. That is, is it black enough and are the channels balanced at low (and I mean low) volumes? Thanks!

Nothing beats an audition to answer your question. So far I've been using M8, I don't hear any audible hiss even if I crank the volume all the way up even at high gain. There is a hint of faint background feedback while turning the volume up especially if you do it very quickly but it is not in any way a hiss nor annoying. Of course if a track has embedded his definitely it will be audible.

As far as channel imbalance, I'm not sure if I'm aware of this phenomenon or how this can happen but at my normal listen volume I can hear both left and right channel just fine. I seldom listen at very low level to notice. ( I only do this if I'm practically not paying attention much on my music but rather what is going on around me to notice any imbalance)

My M8 does not charge my ipod classic. Does anyone else have this issue? I have the most recent classic, black, don't remember the exact model number off the top of my head. I know Kenny posted something about the newer classics a little while ago, but I didn't see anything develop from it.

My M8 does not charge my ipod classic. Does anyone else have this issue? I have the most recent classic, black, don't remember the exact model number off the top of my head. I know Kenny posted something about the newer classics a little while ago, but I didn't see anything develop from it.

This is pretty disappointing finally got my HifiM8 LX yesterday, but I find that it is not working via the camera connection kit with either my iPad or iPhone running IOS 7, does anybody else have this problem ? Remember asking about this originally way back when ordering and Michael confirmed that it should work. Same problem with my android phone, audio recorder pro sees it does not seem to play anything through it.

MG: iPad is limited to 96kHz by Apple. CCT should be fine with LX.
Sounds like a third party driver to *bypass* the android audio infrastructure may in fact be the way to go... M8 will do 192 over USB.
Pick the version with 4-pin Neutrick or 4-pin RSA jack and you are in business. 3.5mm and 1/8" are used interchangeably here and refer to the same connector.

The HiFiM8 LX does not seem to work with Apple camera connection kit, however my DAC Mini seems to work fine. See the earlier comment from Michael confirming that it should work, is this no longer supported ?

The HiFiM8 LX does not seem to work with Apple camera connection kit, however my DAC Mini seems to work fine. See the earlier comment from Michael confirming that it should work, is this no longer supported ?

The HifiM8 was never officially supposed to work with the CCK and iOS7. The only guaranteed way to use an iDevice was through the iDevice version of the M8. I feel that the original question or context of your quote from Michael may be different from your question.

The M8 is a 24/192K DAC via USB. It is up to Apple and Google to make their operating systems work with a standard USB 2.0 DAC. I was able to get my Note II to work with the M8 via UARP, but it took different tries. One thing that worked was to clear the data cache of UARP after force stopping it, turning on the M8 and plugging it into my phone, then starting UARP. I got a pop up message asking if I would allow UARP to use my DAC via USB. It would then work. Oh and it only works with FLAC and WAV, no mp3.